Happy Belated Canada Day!
I hope you all got some down time over the 'sort of' long weekend, if you were able to get Monday off as well!

Fresh Vegetables are just around the corner now!  I had my first cucumber and zuchinni over the weekend, and I can honestly say, that there is nothing tastier than freshly picked fruit and vegetables, right off the vine, or tree, or out of the ground.  It's incredible how little flavour fruit and vegetables have in the store, especially once you get used to home grown produce!

I have a new whiteboard sign out front now, that will give you daily features for fruit and veggies that are in the stand every day.  Today I have the last of my Garlic Scapes, and fresh cut Rhubarb!  The way zuchinni grows, I do believe I will have some ready before the weekend!  Get out those zuchinni recipes!  If you need some, let me know!  I have tons! 

Fresh batches of Raspberry, Strawberry-Rhubarb, and Rhubarb jams have been made over the long weekend!  I ran out of Raspberry Jam quite a while back, so I made 4 times the amount this year! :)  Except for the Rhubarb ( which I now have a ton of again! ), I buy my fruit for jams from Krause Farms in Langley.  My crops are not quite big enough yet for that much jam making.

I still have two sections in my massive garden that have been overtaken with weeds, but that is my task before this coming weekend.  I actually feel like I'm getting on top of it! Yayy!

I wanted to forward a pet peeve of mine - and please don't judge me.  I will do my best to not be political, and I totally believe in a farmers' right to farm, but some things really upset me.  My next door neighbour grows blueberries.  I grow blueberries.  I don't spray my blueberries and have quite a crop this year, only being a two year old crop, it's incredible!  I'm very excited!  My neighbour, over the weekend, sprayed his already ripening crops three times.  I am very concerned with the amount of sprays put on these blueberry crops - so please do yourself a favour, and when you are purchasing blueberries, or any berries for that matter - ask the vendor if they spray their crops, or if they use Cannons in their property.  I am especially concerned with all the Insecticides sprayed - as my crops are flowering now, and if someone is spraying for bugs, that does include Bees, which are the most important part of gardening for pollination and produce production!  Here's hoping there's an invisible barrier between my property and flowering plants, and his.  Okay, enough.  PS. Krause Farms does not use sprays or cannons on their farm!

I wanted to share a photo of my beautiful climbing pale pink rose growing in my back yard.  I planted it 4 years ago over an antique rusty trellis - it's in full bloom right now, and gorgeous!  Enjoy!

I still have some herbs ready to be planted in your garden : Mint, Oregano, Thyme, Basil, Thai Basil, and Cilantro.  Get in while they're still here!

Until next time!
Happy Gardening!
Mandy
Yakashiro Farm & Gardens
28875 Haverman Road,
in Beautiful Bradner, BC
myakashiro@shaw.ca
Cell# 604-556-1330